GREAT events in Greece

One of the areas I’m working on in the Embassy is the GREAT campaign which is designed to promote the UK abroad. Under the new brand the Embassy is able to join forces with the British Council and other local partners and showcase what UK has to offer. The campaign message is simple and our job is to encourage Greece and Greeks to do business with, invest in and visit the UK.  So we are planning a number of events over the next two years to pass on the GREAT messages and invite our audiences to take a fresh look at everything Britain does best. There are some great images promoting British excellence in the areas of  Technology and Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Creativity, Knowledge, Green, Heritage, Sport, Shopping, Music and Countryside.

Most recently we have been promoting ‘Heritage is GREAT’. On 14 February the British artist Mark Titchner visited Greece to launch an exhibition organised by the British Council at the Benaki Museum. The ‘Made in Britain’ exhibition is open to the public until April. It includes some of the finest works from the British Council Collection of contemporary British art, which covers some of the most prolific contemporary British artists of the last thirty years and presents the shifts in the role of art within society.

For the coming month, I’m personally looking forward to another two GREAT events. First on our agenda is the Sport Relief Run A Mile event, passing on the message that ‘Sport is GREAT’! Sport Relief is a UK Comic Relief initiative which takes place every two years. This year the Sport Relief charity run in Greece is organised by the British Embassy in Athens and it will take place on Sunday 18 March at Alsos Sygrou Park in Marousi. The route will be one British mile (1.61 km) and all donations will go to the Greek NGO The Smile of the Child. Really looking forward to participating in this effort!

The next is a celebration of Dickens 200^th Anniversary under the theme of ‘Culture is GREAT’. Organised by the British Council, a series of events in Athens and Thessaloniki will take place from 29 March until 8 April 2012.  The programme includes a tribute in cooperation with the Greek Film Archive and the Museum of Thessaloniki Film, discussion and programme and an illustration workshop. Directors, media and film industry, writers, translators and academics from Greece and the UK will share thoughts and opinions about Dickens and his work. It certainly makes a change from the Greek favourite, Lord Byron!

Keep an eye on the GREAT Facebook page and on our website to get updates on news and events that show how GREAT the Britain is!